Mustard Cover Crop Growth and Weed Suppression in Organic, Strawberry Furrows in California

Type de document
journalArticle
Langue source
-- Langue source --
Titre
Mustard Cover Crop Growth and Weed Suppression in Organic, Strawberry Furrows in California
Titre français
Titre anglais
Auteur(s)
  • BRENNAN Eric B.
  • SMITH Richard F.
Editeur(s)
Autre(s)
Id
3ULQYKT5
Version
2710
Date ajout
12 mars 2021 19:55
Date modification
12 mars 2021 19:55
Résumé

Strawberry (Fragaria ×ananassa Duch.) production in California uses plastic mulch–covered beds that provide many benefits such as moisture conservation and weed control. Unfortunately, the mulch can also cause environmental problems by increasing runoff and soil erosion and reducing groundwater recharge. Planting cover crops in bare furrows between the plastic cover beds can help minimize these problems. Furrow cover cropping was evaluated during two growing seasons in organic strawberries in Salinas, CA, using a mustard (Sinapis alba L.) cover crop planted at two seeding rates (1× and 3×). Mustard was planted in November or December after strawberry transplanting and it resulted in average densities per meter of furrow of 54 and 162 mustard plants for the 1× and 3× rates, respectively. The mustard was mowed in February before it shaded the strawberry plants. Increasing the seeding rate increased mustard shoot biomass and height, and reduced the concentration of P in the mustard shoots. Compared with furrows with no cover crop, cover-cropped furrows reduced weed biomass by 29% and 40% in the 1× and 3× seeding rates, respectively, although weeds still accounted for at least 28% of the furrow biomass in the cover-cropped furrows. These results show that growing mustard cover crops in furrows without irrigating the furrows worked well even during years with relatively minimal precipitation. We conclude that 1) mustard densities of ≈150 plants/m furrow will likely provide the most benefits due to greater biomass production, N scavenging, and weed suppression; 2) mowing was an effective way to kill the mustard; and 3) high seeding rates of mustard alone are insufficient to provide adequate weed suppression in strawberry furrows.

Note
None
CRAW tags
  • AB - Spécifique
  • FREDO adventice
  • GEO Californie
  • GEO Etats-Unis
  • fraise
WEB tags
Titre de la publication
HortScience
Volume
53
Pages
432-440
Date caractères
2018/04/01
Date publication
1 avril 2018
Doi
10.21273/HORTSCI12576-17 Le DOI est une URL unique de référencement d'une publication. Il est donc plus fiable et permanent qu'une URL classique
Issn
0018-5345, 2327-9834 L’ISSN est un code de 8 chiffres servant à identifier les journaux, revues, magazines, périodiques de toute nature et sur tous supports, papier comme électronique.